News
Hyundai opens first car-powered hotel with the IONIQ 5
Hyundai opened a hotel powered by its IONIQ 5 all-electric vehicle. The car-powered vacation spot is located in the countryside of the United Kingdom.
Hyundai Hotel is a collaboration between the Korean automaker and broadcast/critic Grace Dent. The hotel will utilize the IONIQ 5’s Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) technology to power the entire facility. The car has a V2L port at its charging port.
The IONIQ 5 has at least two battery options: the Standard-range 58kWh pack and the Long-range 72.6 kWh pack. It is unclear which battery option powers Hyundai Hotel. Hyundai stated that V2L could supply up to 3.6 kW of power. The Korean car manufacturer said the IONIQ 5 could charge high-power electric equipment using a converter. The car can also provide power while it’s turned off.
“We’re looking for unique, memorable stays more now than ever and this is a delicious blend of innovation, luxury and comfort that gets you thinking. With power coming from the car, where could Hotel Hyundai pop-up next?” comments Grace Dent.
The entire concept of the hotel is based on research commissioned by Hyundai. Approximately 2,000 vacationers participated in the research. More than 55% of the participants noted that the cost-of-living crisis made them reevaluate their vacation plans.
About 44% of vacationers in the research said they would likely go on more staycations in 2023 compared to 2022. Around 31% of the participants highlighted that staycations were better for shorter vacations or breaks. Three out of ten vacationers noted that the UK countryside was a good place to enjoy their mini-breaks.
Hotel Hyundai is situated in Essex, an hour away from central London. Its location seems to be ideal for short breaks or mini vacations. The car-powered hotel is centered around a high-end luxury cabin by Colemans Farm. Everything in the cabin is powered by the IONIQ 5’s V2L technology.
“Our award-winning IONIQ 5 is able to power Hotel Hyundai using its V2L feature, where an adapter from the car provides a socket which domestic appliances can be plugged into. The whole experience demonstrates the practicality of this pioneering technology, and we hope the concept inspires more people to go off grid,” said Hyundai Motor UK’s Managing Director Ashley Andrew.
Hyundai’s award-winning all-electric vehicle also powers the IONIQ 5 coffee lounge at the hotel’s bar and restaurant. It also powers the projector, speakers, and popcorn machine at the hotel’s cinema.
Hotel Hyundai is operational for only 14 nights between October 19 and November 5. It will be open from Wednesday to Sunday. People interested in staying at the hotel have a chance to win a stay at the car-powered hotel through: www.kiphideaways.com/hideaways/hotel-hyundai. The competition will run from October 6 to October 19.
For those who don’t get a chance to stay at Hotel Hyundai, there might be hope in the future. The car-powered hotel might pop up somewhere else in the future.
“I hope this three-week pop-up hotel is just the start for this concept of a car plugging in and powering a luxury experience like this. I’m predicting that guests will be hoping that his amazing hotel and the full experience it offers might be here again in 2023,” teased Dent.
The Teslarati team would appreciate hearing from you. If you have any tips, contact me at maria@teslarati.com or via Twitter @Writer_01001101.
Elon Musk
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has ordered the closure of an investigation involving Elon Musk and social media platform X. The inquiry had been pending for about two years and examined whether the platform was used to coordinate attacks against members of the judiciary.
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
According to a report from Agencia Brasil, the investigation conducted by the Federal Police did not find evidence that X deliberately attempted to attack the judiciary or circumvent court orders.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet concluded that the irregularities identified during the probe did not indicate fraudulent intent.
Justice Moraes accepted the prosecutor’s recommendation and ruled that the investigation should be closed. Under the ruling, the case will remain closed unless new evidence emerges.
The inquiry stemmed from concerns that content on X may have enabled online attacks against Supreme Court justices or violated rulings requiring the suspension of certain accounts under investigation.
Justice Moraes had previously taken several enforcement actions related to the platform during the broader dispute involving social media regulation in Brazil.
These included ordering a nationwide block of the platform, freezing Starlink accounts, and imposing fines on X totaling about $5.2 million. Authorities also froze financial assets linked to X and SpaceX through Starlink to collect unpaid penalties and seized roughly $3.3 million from the companies’ accounts.
Moraes also imposed daily fines of up to R$5 million, about $920,000, for alleged evasion of the X ban and established penalties of R$50,000 per day for VPN users who attempted to bypass the restriction.
Brazil remains an important market for X, with roughly 17 million users, making it one of the platform’s larger user bases globally.
The country is also a major market for Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, which has surpassed one million subscribers in Brazil.
Elon Musk
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr criticized Amazon after the company opposed SpaceX’s proposal to launch a large satellite constellation that could function as an orbital data center network.
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
Amazon recently urged the FCC to reject SpaceX’s application to deploy a constellation of up to 1 million low Earth orbit satellites that could serve as artificial intelligence data centers in space.
The company described the proposal as a “lofty ambition rather than a real plan,” arguing that SpaceX had not provided sufficient details about how the system would operate.
Carr responded by pointing to Amazon’s own satellite deployment progress.
“Amazon should focus on the fact that it will fall roughly 1,000 satellites short of meeting its upcoming deployment milestone, rather than spending their time and resources filing petitions against companies that are putting thousands of satellites in orbit,” Carr wrote on X.
Amazon has declined to comment on the statement.
Amazon has been working to deploy its Project Kuiper satellite network, which is intended to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service. The company has invested more than $10 billion in the program and has launched more than 200 satellites since April of last year.
Amazon has also asked the FCC for a 24-month extension, until July 2028, to meet a requirement to deploy roughly 1,600 satellites by July 2026, as noted in a CNBC report.
SpaceX’s Starlink network currently has nearly 10,000 satellites in orbit and serves roughly 10 million customers. The FCC has also authorized SpaceX to deploy 7,500 additional satellites as the company continues expanding its global satellite internet network.
Energy
Tesla Energy gains UK license to sell electricity to homes and businesses
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
Tesla Energy has received a license to supply electricity in the United Kingdom, opening the door for the company to serve homes and businesses in the country.
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
According to Ofgem, the license took effect at 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday and applies to Great Britain.
The approval allows Tesla’s energy business to sell electricity directly to customers in the region, as noted in a Bloomberg News report.
Tesla has already expanded similar services in the United States. In Texas, the company offers electricity plans that allow Tesla owners to charge their vehicles at a lower cost while also feeding excess electricity back into the grid.
Tesla already has a sizable presence in the UK market. According to price comparison website U-switch, there are more than 250,000 Tesla electric vehicles in the country and thousands of Tesla home energy storage systems.
Ofgem also noted that Tesla Motors Ltd., a separate entity incorporated in England and Wales, received an electricity generation license in June 2020.
The new UK license arrives as Tesla continues expanding its global energy business.
Last year, Tesla Energy retained the top position in the global battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator market for the second consecutive year. According to Wood Mackenzie’s latest rankings, Tesla held about 15% of global market share in 2024.
The company also maintained a dominant position in North America, where it captured roughly 39% market share in the region.
At the same time, competition in the energy storage sector is increasing. Chinese companies such as Sungrow have been expanding their presence globally, particularly in Europe.